


Shades Of Yellow and Dawn

by Eternal_Phantom, Providentially_Demonic



Series: The Yellow Streak 'Verse [2]
Category: Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons), Scooby Doo - All Media Types
Genre: Drabble Collection, Ficlets, Gen, Other, Shared Universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 09:20:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16426667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eternal_Phantom/pseuds/Eternal_Phantom, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Providentially_Demonic/pseuds/Providentially_Demonic
Summary: Yellow Lanterns, meddling Kids and Superheroes, oh, my!!This is a collection of short stories and ficlets, Set in our shared universe of Yellow Streak. It was asked that they be gathered together to make for easier finding than trying to hunt them down through Tumblr's tags. The Author of each piece will be listed at the beginning of the chapter.





	1. Chapter 1

This chapter is written by Eternal_Phantom on the idea what if Krudsky (Scooby Doo and the Goblin King) came back looking for revenge against Shaggy for everything that happened to him.

 

*****

 

“You think you’re  _sooo_  great because you thwarted me last time, heckler? Well, I’m back. And with the new tricks I’ve gotten now you and your friends will suffer for -”

“Shaggy is asleep, “ The gangly youth in front if him stated.

“Er, come again?”  

The figure opened his eyes. There were no pupils or irises. Just glowing yellow light. “Shaggy is asleep. While I would normally not under any circumstance take control of his body like this, you are involved, so I thought it best to leave him sleeping. You have done him enough damage.”

“ _I’ve_ done _him_ damage _? He’s_  the reason I was rotting in the Goblin King’s.”

“No, your own hubris and greed is the cause of that. However, your actions re-enforced a certain conception my Bearer has regarding wizards. Mainly that they are amoral and hostile. That fact that you threatened his friends on top of it made it all the worse.” The glowing yellow figure raised a hand and yellow bands encased the wannabe magician.

“I cannot harm you. Shaggy would never forgive me. And I would never forgive myself for betraying him in such away. But I cannot let your actions go without retribution.”

Krudsky snorted. “And how, pray tell, are you going to do that when you’re already admitted you can’t harm me.”

Ring grinned, a grin anyone who knew Shaggy would know should never belong on his face. Suddenly Krudsky felt a spike of terror go through him. He gasped in shock as he felt his guts twist in fear. “What’s happening?!”

“That’s what Shaggy felt when he found out you were going to turn his friends into monsters.” Ring explained quietly. “I am forged of Fear. It is the source of my power. You caused much of it last Halloween.Now you’re going to be getting a small taste.”

And it was only a _small_ taste. Ring did not wish to cause the man any harm, even psychological (if only for Shaggy’s sake). Just enough to make the wait for the Goblin King or Justice League, whichever came first, less than pleasant.

If there was one thing Ring had sadly learned, it was that bad guys had a bad tendency of escaping. The next time it happened, maybe Krudsky wouldn’t be so gung-ho to inflict himself on others.

If, alternatively, he was also afraid to get too close to Shaggy, that was fine too.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written by Providentially_Demonic as a response to the first chapter, picking up where the original left off.

Diana had learned never to be surprised where the kids of Mystery Inc. were involved. Batman had radioed her, saying the Watchtower’s sensors had detected a spike in power from Shaggy’s ring not far from her location. She had immediately taken to the air, heading there at speed. She knew there was very little that could harm the boy with the ring protecting him, but there was always that _slim_ chance.

She found Shaggy calmly sitting on the steps of the library, leaning against one of the stone lions flanking the stairs. He was glowing faintly yellow, and wearing his full costume, though not the hooded cloak he had later adopted. There was a figure pinned to the stone lion opposite Shaggy, bound there by bands of light the color of morning sunlight.

Still, when he turned his gaze up to her, she reeled back in the air a little. His eyes were solid yellow, with no delineation between pupil, iris or sclera. “Designation: Wonder Woman,” he greeted calmly.

Only Shaggy’s ring had ever greeted her like that.

“Ring? What’s happened to Shaggy?” She asked, alighting on the head of the stone lion above the bound man. “And who is this?”

“Shaggy is currently asleep. I am momentarily in control, to deal with this situation. It is… _best_ , if my bearer is not awakened until this man, Krudsky, is safely in custody. Whether the League’s or the Goblin King’s, I care not, only that he is removed from Shaggy’s presence and safely restrained by a  _true_ magician.”

“What has he done?”

“Nothing!” shouted Krudsky. “I’ve done nothing!”

Shaggy’s mouth opened, but it wasn’t his voice or even the oddly-calm tone of the Ring. Instead it was the man called Krudsky’s voice, mocking Shaggy as a heckler and declaiming he and his friends would suffer.

“Lies!” shouted Krudsky, red in the face.

Shaggy- _nee-_ Ring’s yellow gaze turned on him and Krudsky began to whimper. “I do not lie, human. You have inflicted damage upon my bearer and would do more, if allowed. I will  _not_ allow it.”

Diana dropped off the lion, peering into the whimpering man’s face. “What are you doing to him?”

“Allowing him a taste, as my bearer would say, of his own medicine. He feels the terror he inflicted upon Shaggy. I will not damage him, but he might find it best to avoid me in the future. I will remand him to your custody, Designation: Wonder Woman, though I have no doubt the Goblin King is searching for his escaped prisoner and will come seeking him,” Ring tipped Shaggy's head sideways thoughtfully. “I might advise one of the League magicians speak to the Goblin King when he does come looking; perhaps together they might find a new way to keep him safely restrained and far away from my Bearer.”

Diana turned to face Shaggy. “I’ll make sure Zatanna is on call. WIll you and Shaggy be alright? What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?”

Ring nodded. “I sensed the malice coming for us, and took steps to negate it, away from others, so no one might come to harm.” Ring lifted Shaggy’s hand, displaying a cell phone. “I intend to call Designation: Fred to come retrieve us once Krudsky’s been safely taken into your custody. Shaggy need not ever know anything has taken place.”

Diana shook her head. “Fred will want to know why you are out here and in control in the middle of the night and I don’t think a sleepwalking story is going to cut it.”

“It is not my wish to deceive him, but Shaggy has been damaged enough by this man and I do not intend for him to ever know that he escaped.” Ring was getting better at expressions, because the look on Shaggy’s long face was a mix of concern and fierce protectiveness. Diana made a mental note to have Batman run a few more tests on Shaggy and Ring, though perhaps not in the Watchtower this time. The longer he and the ring were together, the more effect Shaggy seemed to have on it, and none of it bad.

She patted Shaggy’s lanky shoulder, knowing Ring would understand the intent of the gesture. “I’ll take you two home myself, as soon as I call someone to come pick up this fellow. Shayera is in the area and can be here in a few moments.”

This time Ring smiled. “That will be satisfactory. She may be inclined to terrify him more. I would not object to that. I would not be betraying Shaggy that way.”

Diana was reminded briefly that Ring had a great deal of experience with evil. Though it willingly chose good, it could bear a grudge. Not that she, or any of the others, were any different. They had the capacity to do harm, but they chose otherwise, just as Ring had.

“I’ll let her know,” she told the Ring, raising a hand to her earpiece. It seemed they still had the ability to surprise her after all.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written By Eternal_Phantom, a short little Drabble on the Prompt Vengeance.

Shaggy wasn’t much one for vengeance. He preferred live and let live (though admittedly sometimes it involved letting live very far away.)

Ring disagreed. It felt some things demanded a response, and he wasn’t afraid to be the one to give it. He would respect his host's wishes, of course. But should Krudsky  _ever_  escape from the Goblin King again, he wouldn’t know a moment of peace. Even Shaggy couldn’t forgive him for what he did to their friends.

Krudsky’s actions reinforced Shaggy’s subconscious fear towards people who used magic, compounding the problems with his own magic. And that, Ring couldn’t forgive.


	4. Scare Me Not

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Chapter was written by Providentially_Demonic.

_“I’ve seen you,”_  the voice hissed through the cracks in the walls, sibilant and low.  _“So many times in their company. Who are you, little children, to be so well thought of by Batman and his cronies?”_

Daphne whirled on her heel, glaring at the door that had trapped them all in the small room, the fire in her eyes enough to melt steel. “More trouble than you can deal with, whoever you are!”

Fred put a hand on her arm. “Daph, calm down.”

“L-like, maybe we shouldn’t provoke the p-person who’s got us trapped in this c-creepy funhouse.” Shaggy put in with a nervous swallow.

 _“Clever deduction, but already far too late. My toxin has been creeping through the room since the moment you stepped foot inside.”_  Dry, raspy laughter filled the air.  _“Now tell me, what is it you fear? What terrors haunt the stygian depths of your dreams?”_

Daphne opened her mouth to retort angrily, but all that emerged was a strangled scream. She staggered back, staring down at her hands in horror. Frantically she began scrubbing them on her skirt. “Get it off! _ **Get it off!**  _Why won’t it come off?”

“Daphne?” Fred tried to catch her hands, but jerked back with a sound of dismay. “Not real! It’s just a mask; it has to be! Just a mask!” He flinched back against the wall, crumpling into a heap at the bottom. “Not real, not real, _notrealnoterealnotreal…”_

Velma’s reaction was less extreme, but in a way, all the more frightening for that. She simply stood, with a hand clamped to the side of her neck like she was covering a wound; her every muscle locked, and chestnut-brown eyes staring at something only she could see. “Why…?” her voice was a broken, terrified whisper. “You… you swore never to hurt me…” Her knees gave out and she fell to them with a thump.

 _“And you?”_  the hissing, soft voice returned, turning its attention to the last two standing.  _“What terrors drive you to madness?”_

The lanky youth looked down at all of his friends, caught in their own, endless nightmares before looking up, like he could see the speaker. “This one right here, if anything.” His voice steadied. “But I’m not afraid, because I know it’s not real and those are just fears you are showing them.”

“What? Who _are_  you, to be unaffected by my toxin?” The voice had lost its whispery tone, shocked and sounding too high.

“Someone who's lived with worse fears than you every day of their life.” The teenager and the dog at his side straightened up. “Like, I’m immune, because you can’t scare me anymore than I am already.” Lambent yellow surrounded the two figures, transforming the teen’s clothing into a modified yellow and black uniform..

A strange metallic-sounding voice filled the air. “And I feed on fear, Designate: Scarecrow. Shall we see what  _you_  are afraid of?”


	5. Scare Me Not: Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Chapter was written By Eternal_Phantom as a direct response to Scare Me Not.

There was so much fear here. The normal copious amounts from its bearer, as well as those in the room and remnants of those the Scarecrow had trapped before. There was enough power to the feed Ring for quite a while. But it was poisoned wine to him.

With a single flash of yellow, the Scarecrow’s observation devices were destroyed. Ring was torn. He wanted to find Scarecrow. to _p u n i s h_ him for hurting those his bearer (and Ring itself) held dear. But his friends were in pain, and that came first.

They went to Velma first. Her words spoke of betrayal, and that was something neither Shaggy nor he could abide. Contact with the ring would let it block her fear, but it would be tricky to get all three. The best thing to do would be to purge the toxin, but that wasn’t in its repertoire. At least not as a power ring.

_> >I believe we could cure them, but it would take magic to do so.<<_

Shaggy nodded roughly. A lot of his more deeply held beliefs (his dislike of violence or fear of magic) could be instantly bypassed by something harming his friends.

 _> >I will bind her fear and focus the magic. I need you to concentrate on the idea of the toxin being gone and Velma being healthy.<<_ Shaggy wasn’t yet comfortable enough to go through formal training in his magic, but what effects he did create seemed to come from either things he believed or wanted very badly.

And at this moment there was nothing he wanted more than his loved ones to be okay. Ring was glad it wasn’t trying to block the magic, because it wasn’t sure it could stem the flow.

The sunlight-tinged magic surged through her, eliminating the toxin and the unnatural fear. Velma still jumped when she saw him though. “Shaggy, you’re you! I…where are we?”

“Like, Scarecrow’s creepy funhouse.” He answered. “And of course I’m me, who else would I be?”

“A werewolf. Of course, it was just that stupid fear toxin again.” She shook her head, getting rid of the last of the nightmare.

 _You… you swore never to hurt me…_  Shaggy felt something cold in his gut. Scarecrow hadn’t just made her think she was being hurt, he had made her think  _he'd_  hurt her.

Scooby’s whine broke him out of his thoughts, reminding him that Fred and Daphne were still suffering.

Fred only gave a shaky laugh, stating he knew it wasn’t real, while Daphne hugged all of them. “You’re not dead,” she whispered, to herself, though they all heard it. “I’m not covered in your blood.”

The cold lump grew larger.

“We need to call in Batman,” Velma stated. “You still have the communicator with the Justice League, right Fred?”

“Of course.”

“Good, you guys call him and get him here as soon as possible.” Shaggy stood up.

“’You guys’? What about you?” Daphne asked, not wanting any of them out of her sight for a while.

Shaggy clenched his fist. The normal soft yellow glow in his eyes had brightened, almost as though there was a flashlight behind each eye's iris. Despite this, it wasn’t Ring who spoke to them, but Shaggy, power behind each word.

“ _Scarecrow is_   _M̊Î̼ͥ̈̅̈̚N̫̰͈̬̞̥ͫ̊̓Ë̘́̾̄_!”


	6. Scare Me Not: Night Terrors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Providentially_Demonic. Follows after Scare Me Not: Escape.

They never knew just what happened after Shaggy and Ring had gone after Scarecrow, AKA Jonathan Crane. By the time Batman had arrived in a Javelin, Shaggy was back with a gibbering Scarecrow in glowing golden bonds at his feet.  He handed him off to Green Lantern without a word or a flinch. 

“Find a really deep hole and drop him in it,” he said wearily to Batman before dropping to the ground by the rest of the gang, out cold in less than a heartbeat.

Batman insisted they all be checked over, of course, and hustled the whole gang and one near-mindless villain into the aircraft, assisted by Diana and Flash, who had also come at Fred’s call.

They were all in the medical bay of the Watchtower, dimmed lighting indicating it was well into the night-cycle of the station, when Shaggy awoke. Scooby was sprawled across the foot of his bed, asleep, but somehow he wasn’t surprised to find the others tossing restlessly in their sleep or not sleeping at all.

Fred was staring absently past the viewport and into the stars, but turned to face Shaggy when he stirred. “Lay still,” he cautioned tiredly. “Those IV’s in all of us are to flush the last of the toxin out of our systems. Batman figured, better safe than sorry.”

Daphne sat up with a gasp at the sound of Fred’s voice, green eyes darting all over the room before setting on the clenched hands wrapped around her bedsheets. She swallowed heavily and convulsively scrubbed her hands against her blanket covered thighs.

Shaggy sat up carefully and looked down at his hand. Ring glowed a faint, barely visible gold on his finger, pale and washed out. 

At his concerned query, Ring responded, voice a bare whisper in his mind. _ >>I channeled a great deal of your magic today, and could not replenish myself easily. The fear Designate: Scarecrow created was— less than palatable. I could not use it. I am unsure whether it was the toxin or simply the fact that it came from your friends, though I have not had trouble leeching their fear before.<<_ Ring  sent a burst of reassurance. _ >>I will recover, given time.<<_

Fred had returned to absently staring at the stars and Daphne wis examining her hands like she might find the blood she had mentioned still caked them. 

Shaggy didn’t want to but he knew he had to ask, because he’d only gotten disjointed bits out of them and he needed the whole story. He needed to know he hadn’t let his own anger loose where it was not justified. Was he a monster like Velma had claimed, or worse, one like Sinestro? “I was wondering, like, what did you guys see that scared you so bad?”

Daphne moaned and drew her knees up, burying her face in them. “Blood,” she said faintly. “Blood all over me, cold and clammy and sticky on my hands and the worst part was I knew… I k-knew it belonged to all of you, even though I couldn’t see you. I knew you w-were dead.” Her breath hitched.

Shaggy shuddered, turning his gaze to Fred.

Freddy shivered, looking at his feet under the blanket. “There were these  _things_  all around us, I don’t know what they were, but I thought they were, y'know, fake, like usual. I went to pull a mask off one of them and the whole head came off in my hands. It was still staring at me and the mouth was moving even though nothing was coming out.” He shook, wrapping his arms around his own shoulders like he would never be warm again. 

Daphne made a muffled sound into her knees. “I may never sleep again.”

Across from her, Velma bolted upright in her bed, eyes wide and unseeing. Her breathing was labored and her fingers clenched on the sheets. She fumbled for her glasses and put them on. She tucked her knees up to her chest under the thin blanket, staring absently at the needle in her arm.

Scooby had woken the instant Velma did, and whined inquisitively at her.

“Velma?” Shaggy asked softly. 

Velma said nothing, still staring at the needle in her arm. Huddled up like that, she almost looked too small. 

With another whine Scooby leapt off of Shaggy’s bed and down to the floor. He padded over to Velma’s bed and leapt up onto it. He curled around her, whimpering. 

“Velma?” Shaggy asked again. He could even feel concern for her coming off of Ring, the band pulsing softly with golden light. “Velma, like, what happened?" 

"N-nothing,” her voice trembled on the razor’s edge of tears. “I-it was nothing; it never happened." 

"Rrelma,” Scooby whined, licking her cheek. She flinched, a hand coming up to cover the side of her neck again, fingers brushing against the skin like they were looking for a wound that should have been there.

“Like, Velms, please, don’t hide it from us. It scared you really bad, and that scares me.” Shaggy pled. 

“It— it wasn’t real,” Velma said faintly, her shoulders shaking with suppressed sobs. “It wasn’t real. There are no real monsters.”

That scared the hell out of Shaggy. Velma had been coming to accept that there were things out there outside of her logical realm of science and rationality. She knew that the monsters were sometimes real. 

He dragged himself out of bed, ignoring the sting of the needle coming out of his arm and sat down beside her, slipping an arm around her shoulders. “What did you see?”

Her breath hitched and she pulled away, but then just as quickly dug her fingers into his shirt, drawing him back so she could hide her face in the baggy fabric. Her words were a hurried jumble. “You— you w-were a monster— a werewolf— all red eyes and fur and fangs and I knew it was you, but it wasn’t at the same time.  I knew you had promised never to hurt me, but it was there and you were ripping into my throat with your teeth and you weren’t you anymore, just a monster th-that w-wanted m-me d-d-dead—” her voice broke on a painful-sounding sob and Velma began crying, great, wrenching sobs that sounded like they were being torn out of her.

Even if the betrayal was only in her mind, it cut him deep.

Shaggy could do nothing but hold her and wish he could chase away the monsters of her own mind that scared her so badly.


End file.
